Author’s Note – It is advisable that you read The Prince Of Torkey before you read this story. This is a sequel, and the previous story explains a lot more about Kira and Rhys, as well as the kingdom of Torkey, than what gets covered in this story. Thanks!

The Outcast Of Dragoi

The sun had only been up for an hour, and the sandy fields beyond the west gate of Torkey were still in grey shadow as Maiya lay staring up at the clear sky. In the distance, closer to the gate, she knew that the early morning farmers were gathering, preparing to start work for the morning; yet the young woman paid them little attention. The twenty year old had lived in the kingdom of Torkey for as long as she could remember, and the routine of daily life was something that she was quite familiar with; it never changed. Nothing about her life ever changed, so it came as quite a shock when a black shadow passed over her, and the draft from a pair of giant wings blew sand into her murky blue eyes.

“No way,” she breathed as she sat up, following the flight of a large black Dragon as it careened towards the ground. With a crash it hit the hard earth, and as Maiya jumped to her feet, she could easily see that the creature wasn’t moving.

It was a common fact that to the north of Torkey, high in the mountains, was where the Dragon kingdom of Dragoi could be found, yet humans rarely – if ever – spotted the Dragons themselves. Ever since the last Great War between the two races came to an end over five hundred years ago, and the signing of the treaty of Aradaishi, Dragons and humans had lived very separate lives. Yet something had brought this wounded Dragon to the fields beyond Torkey, disrupting the solitude of Maiya’s quiet morning.

Cautiously creeping closer to where the Dragon lay, Maiya gulped as her eyes comprehended what she was seeing. The creature was covered in pitch-black scales, with a ridge of deep purple scales down the middle of its back and tail. Its face also contained deep purple markings, and its wings were limp and torn. Looking closer, Maiya smelt before she saw the blood, yet when she did see it, she saw that the Dragon was covered in deep gouges and burns. It looked like it had come off the worst in a great fight, most likely with another Dragon.

“Poor thing,” Maiya whispered, and the Dragon seemed to quiver as it bared its teeth. With a gasp, Maiya jumped backwards, before she stopped. Something was happening to the Dragon. As she watched, the creature seemed to shrink, and its scales melted away. Its wings and tail were sucked into its body, being replaced by hair and skin. In a matter of moments, a naked young man lay on his stomach in the crater where the Dragon had once been, with his long purple-black hair covering most of his bloodstained body.

Stunned, Maiya could do little more than to blink in shock at the unconscious young man. Not much was known about the Dragons, yet Maiya had been fairly certain that they couldn’t change their form; yet there he was, perfectly human in appearance. Creeping forwards once more, Maiya knelt down in the dirt and pressed her fingers against his neck. She found a strong pulse, and was relieved to see that he was breathing normally.

“But what am I supposed to do with you?” she mused, before the sound of yelling drew her attention. Standing up, she scanned the horizon for the source of the noise, and could just make out a group of farmers in the distance. They were shouting, and several were waving pitchforks in the air and pointing in her direction. Obviously, they had seen the Dragon crash land, and Maiya could tell that they weren’t going to act friendly should they find said Dragon.

Darting back over to the unconscious young man, Maiya carefully lifted one of his arms over her shoulder, manoeuvring herself into a crouched position, before using all of her strength to stand up, dragging the young man with her.

“It came down somewhere over here!”

“Yeah! We’re gonna slay us a Dragon!”

The voices were getting closer, and there was no way that Maiya could drag the wounded young man away before the farmers found them. Luckily, the Dragon had landed on the low side of a downward slope, so they couldn’t be seen from the west gate, yet the barren landscape offered no refuge once the men drew closer.

“I hope you’re not planning on harming that Dragon?” another voice, clearly female, suddenly cut in, and Maiya stopped in her tracks. The speaker was out of sight, and yet her voice carried a clear note of authority.

“We was just gonna go take a quick look. Its not every day you get to see a Dragon.”

“With pitchforks?” the female voice asked, and Maiya could easily picture her staring down the group of farmers. “You do know that the treaty of Aradaishi forbids you from harming it, right?”

“Of course we do. And we weren’t gonna!”

“Then I suggest that you stay away from this area, and that you go about your business,” she said, followed by silence. Maiya breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that the men were gone, and shifting the wounded Dragon-boy into a more comfortable position, she stared her slow journey once more.

“Well, this isn’t what I expected to find.”

Maiya stopped dead, slowly turning her eyes towards the source of the voice. It was the female speaker from before, and now Maiya could see that she was barely older than herself, with green-tinged black hair and eyes that were a brilliant violet. As she walked down the slope towards her, she smiled.

“Who are you?” Maiya asked, and the girl seemed to stop for a moment, thrown by the question.

“Wow. And here I thought everyone in Torkey knew me,” she said, before she smiled again. “You can call me Kira, but technically I’m Prince Kiran of Torkey,” she added, and Maiya was left staring at her in dumbfounded shock.

“Y-you’re the girl Prince?” she stammered, stumbling slightly as the dead weight of the young man slipped. Kira nodded as she grabbed his other arm, slinging it over her own shoulders.

“How about you tell me what happened here, and I’ll help you with this guy?” she offered, before she frowned. “Hang on, we can’t take him into town looking like this.” Slipping off her lightweight jacket, revealing a singlet top underneath, Kira wrapped the garment around the Dragon-boy’s waist, effectively covering his nakedness. “That’s better. Now, why don’t you tell me what happened to the Dragon that I know for a fact landed somewhere around here?”

Maiya sighed with relief as Kira shouldered some of the dead weight. “This is the Dragon,” she answered, and Kira grunted in confusion. “Don’t ask how, but he changed his form. I was there; I saw him change from a Dragon into a human in a matter of seconds.”

“I didn’t know that they could do that,” Kira said in amazement, and Maiya nodded.

“Neither did I, but it seems like they can,” she replied.

“Do you know what happened to him? Obviously he was attacked, but did he say anything to you?”

Maiya shook her head. “No. He didn’t say anything, and he’s been unconscious ever since he changed forms. But I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that it was another Dragon that attacked him.”

“Obviously,” Kira said as they crossed the fields and managed to slip unnoticed through the west gate.

“I don’t mean to pry, but you sound like you’re taking a personal interest in this Dragon,” Maiya said, and Kira nodded. “Do you know him or something?”

“No. I’ve never seen a real Dragon before, but I’ve always been interested in them. I tried sneaking away into the mountains once to go looking for them, but my parents busted me. They weren’t impressed,” she replied, and Maiya grinned. She had heard many stories about the Prince of Light, yet in person, she seemed different than expected. Kira didn’t act like any royal that Maiya had ever heard of, so much so that it was easy to forget who she really was.

“Umm, where exactly are we going? Because I don’t really have a home that we can go to. I sort of drift around the city, coming and going as I please,” Maiya explained, and Kira waved the statement away.

“That’s okay, I have a place in mind,” she said, and after continuing on in silence for quiet some time, they were soon at the door of a quaint little inn known as the Green Lion. Not even bothering to knock, Kira pushed the door open and the two of them struggled to drag the still unconscious Dragon-boy inside.

“Are you sure it’s okay to bring him here?” Maiya asked, and Kira nodded.

“Best place in all of Torkey,” she replied, before scanning the empty room. “Hey Darius! Are you here?”

The sound of feet pounding down stairs could be heard, before a young man with curly black-blue hair and eyes to match came into view. Stopping dead in the doorway, he gasped at what he saw.

“Kira, please tell me that you haven’t just killed someone, and that you need my help hiding the body?” he said, and Maiya wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.

“No, I haven’t. We found him this morning out in the west fields,” Kira explained as Darius came over to lend a hand.

“West fields. I’ve been hearing some interesting rumours about that area this morning. Seems like some farmers spotted a Dragon flying over,” Darius said, and Kira nodded.

“Yeah, that would be this guy,” she said as she shifted her load onto her puzzled friend. “Don’t ask, we can explain later. But first, do you have a room that we can use?”

Darius frowned for a moment. “Room four is probably the best one to use,” he said, and Kira lead the way upstairs. Opening the door, Maiya and Darius carefully lowered the Dragon-boy onto the bed, before Darius whistled in amazement.

“I’d better go and get my first aid kit,” he said, before disappearing. Reappearing with bandages in tow, the three of them set about cleaning and dressing as many of the wounds as they could find. The young man seemed to be covered in scratches, bites and burns, and by the time they were finished, there were more bandages visible than skin. The worst injury however was a deep cut in his stomach that had needed several stiches in order to close the wound. He had bled quite a lot, and although Kira had managed to avoid most of the blood, Maiya hadn’t been so lucky; her clothes were ruined.

While they had worked, Maiya had explained again what she had seen, and Darius had been just as surprised as Kira. Indeed, it seemed like no one knew that Dragons could take on a human appearance.

“But why would they want to?” Kira asked, and Darius shrugged.

“Maybe so they can slip into cities and go unnoticed?” he suggested, handing over a set of clean clothes for Maiya. They were men’s clothes, but the young woman didn’t mind. A pair of pants and a jacket were also acquired for the Dragon-boy, as he obviously didn’t possess any clothes of his own.

“But why? As far as I know, the Dragons keep away from humans,” Kira said, and Darius nodded.

“True. But it seems like there’s a lot that we don’t know about Dragons,” he countered, before he frowned, turning towards Maiya. “Or about our new friend. I don’t think I even know your name.”

Kira blinked. “That’s right, I never did ask your name.”

“I like to be called Maiya,” she said, slightly embarrassed by the sudden attention.

“Like to be called? Does that mean it’s not your real name?” Kira asked, before catching herself. “Not that I have a problem with it, but I’m just curious.”

Maiya smiled. “It’s okay. My full name is Jemaiya, but I prefer not to use it.”

“Seems to be a tread around here,” Darius muttered, and Maiya gave him a questioning look. “Neither Kira or her fiancé like to use their full names either,” he explained, and Kira snorted.

“My full name is a boys name, and Rhys hates his, so we don’t use them,” she shot back, and Maiya turned her attention to the girl Prince.

“Why do you have a boy’s name and title, anyway?” she asked, and Kira shrugged.

“Admin mistake,” she replied in an offhand manner. “When my birth was recorded, someone stuffed up and put me down as Prince Kiran instead of Princess Kira, and legally no one can change it.”

“Oh,” was all Maiya could think of to say in response.

“Listen, I have to head back home for a while, but I can drop by later on, probably with Rhys,” Kira said as she turned to talk to Darius, who nodded.

“I’ll be here all day,” he replied, before giving Maiya a smile. “And you’re more than welcome to stay here too, seeing as you were the one who found the Dragon in the first place.”

“Thank you,” Maiya said, before pulling up a chair and taking a seat by the bedside. The young man still hadn’t regained consciousness, but Maiya could see his eyes moving underneath his eyelids, and every so often he would move in his sleep; a sure sign that he was recovering.

Now that she had a chance to properly look at him, Maiya realised that he was quite handsome. His purple hair was as glossy as his scales had been, and his skin was a deep olive. His muscles were slender, yet strong and solid, reminiscent of the sinuous muscles that he had possessed as a Dragon. Indeed, the Dragon made for quite an attractive human, and as Maiya reached out to touch his hand, she could hardly believe that something as incredible as this had happened to her; an orphan girl who had lived a rather dull life on the streets of Torkey, ever since a plague-like illness had killed her parents when she was still a child, and had almost killed her.

“Something tells me that my life isn’t going to be dull anymore.”

0.0

“I will not tell you where the child is, Prince Katsuko!”

“Then I will just have to make you tell me!” the golden Dragon yelled in anger, attacking his valet with all of his strength …

With a gasp the young man opened his deep purple eyes, and he was shocked to see that he was inside of a human house, and that a young human girl with short reddish hair was sitting next to his bed.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” she said with a smile, and the young man just blinked at her in confusion.

“Where am I?” he asked, looking at the room around him. It was a modestly furnished room, with an open window and a set of draws against one wall. Including the bed, there was nothing else in the room.

“You’re at an inn known as the Green Lion, in the kingdom of Torkey,” the girl replied. “My name is Jemaiya, by the way, but please just call me Maiya. What should I call you?”

“Sarn,” he answered absentmindedly. “How did I get here?”

“Well, you crashed in the west fields, and after you changed forms, I brought you here with the help of the Prince of Torkey,” Maiya explained, and Sarn swung his head around to stare at her.

“You saw me change?” he demanded, and Maiya nodded.

“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you’re worried about,” she assured him. “I was surprised though, because I didn’t know that Dragons could become human.”

“That’s because we don’t want you humans to know that we can do that. We use our human forms to slip through your cities unnoticed. If you knew we could do that, then we would not be able to move around so easily,” Sarn explained, before he made to sit up. “I shouldn’t be here,” he groaned as Maiya reached out to stop him.

“You’re not going anywhere in your condition! Look, I don’t know what happened to you, but you’ve got some pretty serious injuries and … are you smelling me?” Maiya asked, and indeed it did look like the Dragon-boy was sniffing her shirtfront.

“I’m sorry,” Sarn said, pulling away from the girl. “I thought that you smelled like … never mind,” he mumbled, before the door opened to reveal Darius with a tray of food.

“I thought I heard voices up here. It’s good to see that you’re awake,” he said with a smile, and Sarn blinked at him in surprise as Maiya noticed that he was sniffing the air.

“You … Now I really can’t be here,” he said, trying to once more rise out of bed, yet a stab of pain in his stomach slowed his movements, and Maiya grabbed his shoulders.

“You can’t leave. Darius, tell him!”

“She’s right. You need to let your wounds heal before you go anywhere,” he said, and Sarn shot him an angry look. “I don’t mind you staying here, even if you are a Dragon, so just relax.”

“You told him what I was?” Sarn hissed at Maiya, who nodded after a slight hesitation. “Who else knows that I am here?”

“Hey, the Dragon’s awake!” the voice of Kira suddenly called from the doorway, before she entered the room followed by a young man with golden blonde hair and emerald green eyes. “Rhys, you should come and see this guy.”

“A Dragon that can become a human? Now that is interesting,” Rhys said with a grin, and Sarn growled at the newcomers.

“I am not some attraction for you humans to stare at,” he hissed through clenched teeth, yet both Kira and Rhys seemed to wave his anger away.

“Hey, I helped drag your unconscious arse all the way here, so it wouldn’t hurt to be polite, you know? Especially since you’re in the company of royalty,” Kira said, and Sarn blinked at her.

“You are royalty?” he asked in disbelief, hardly comprehending that this brash young woman could be a royal anything, apart from perhaps a pain.

“I told you that the Prince of Torkey helped bring you here,” Maiya reminded him, and now the Dragon-boy was even more confused.

“Yes, but she is female.”

“And she is standing right here,” Kira shot back. “I’m a girl Prince, okay? My name is Kira, and this is my fiancé, Prince Rhysaldo of Zareen.”

“Do you have to keep throwing my full name around like that?” Rhys sighed, but Kira wasn’t really listening.

“So what do we call you?” she asked of the Dragon-boy.

“My name is Sarnishi, and I am the valet of Dragon Prince Katsuko,” he answered, and Kira whistled.

“Valet to the Prince. Sounds like a good job to have.”

“Only if you stay on the Prince’s good side,” Sarn shot back, staring down at the bandages that covered most of his body.

“I take it that the Prince was the one who attacked you?” Maiya asked, and Sarn nodded. “But why?”

For a moment, it seemed like Sarn looked up at Darius, but then he sighed and let his eyes wander. “He wanted some information out of me that I was not willing to give, and so I was attacked. I fled from Dragoi, but it seems like I only made it as far as Torkey,” he explained.

“You should be thankful that the girls found you when they did. You were in pretty bad shape,” Darius said, and Sarn looked up at him once again.

“You’re name was Darius, and this is your place, correct?” The young man nodded in confirmation. “Then I do not wish to be a burden to you. I will not be staying,” he added, and before Maiya could even react, he had slipped off of the bed and was on his feet. Yet he had barely taken a step when his knees buckled, and Maiya jumped up to catch him before he would have hit the ground.

“What did I tell you about leaving?” she cried. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere, so get back into bed!”

“Why do you seek to involve yourself in the affairs of Dragons, girl?” Sarn hissed, and Maiya smiled at him.

“Because you’re the most interesting thing to ever happen in my life,” she replied, and Sarn snorted, yet allowed himself to be tucked back under the sheets.

“Perhaps we should let him rest?” Rhys said from the doorway, before he picked up Kira’s hand. “Besides, we promised that we’d run an errand for your mother, before meeting up with her for lunch. We don’t want to keep her waiting,” he added, and Kira sighed.

“Fine,” she replied, before she groaned in disappointment. “It’s just typical that the first chance I get to meet a real Dragon, I’m busy,” she said before allowing her fiancé to drag her out of the room, leaving just Maiya and Darius with the Dragon-boy.

“If Prince Katsuko finds out that I am here, you will be in danger,” Sarn said, before his purple eyes closed, and he fell asleep once more.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let him find you,” Maiya assured him, once more taking her place by his bedside. Darius watched the pair for a moment longer, before he left the room and quietly closed the door.

0.0

It was dark when Sarn opened his eyes again, yet his keen sight allowed him to pierce the shadows with ease. Shifting slightly, he felt some resistance on his left hand, and looking down, he saw that the human girl, Maiya, had her fingers wrapped around his.

‘Why is she still here?’ he thought, frowning at the sleeping girl. Her dark brownish red hair was cropped into a fluffy mess, and parts of her unruly fringe were hiding her closed eyes from view. She was still sitting by the bed, yet her left arm was folded on the mattress, supporting her head. It was her right hand that gripped his left, and although Sarn could have easily disentangled his fingers, he chose not to for the moment.

‘She is a strange one, and yet …’ Sarn sighed as he breathed in the girl’s scent, before settling back onto his pillow. ‘She has stayed by my side all of this time, and she does not seem to care that I am a Dragon who is in a considerable amount of danger. She could not even hope to protect me from the Prince if that is what she is thinking, and yet she is still here. Why?’

With this last question still unanswered, Sarn closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep once more.

0.0

The next morning, Maiya awoke with a start as she felt a slight pull on her hand, and looking up, she just caught sight of long purple hair disappearing over the window ledge. Racing to the window, she just caught sight of Sarn running away from the inn before she lost sight of him. Swearing under her breath, Maiya tore down the stairs and out onto the street, chasing after the renegade Dragon-boy.

The city of Torkey was built in a circular design around the central hill that housed the palace, and all of the circular streets were connected by cross streets, meaning that Sarn couldn’t progress either further in or further out of the city without using one of these cross streets. Seeing as he was so reluctant to stay at the inn, Maiya guessed that he would be heading out of the city, and the closest gate out was the West gate; one of four gates located at the cardinal points around the city’s outer wall.

Knowing the city as well as she did, it didn’t take Maiya long to reach the gate, and after a quick word with the morning gateman, she soon discovered that the only people through the gate so far had been farmers; no one matching Sarn’s description had passed through. With a sigh of relief, Maiya took a spot against a wall to wait for the Dragon-boy. She didn’t have to wait long, as Sarn turned up several minutes later, limping and holding an arm across his stomach.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Maiya snapped, pushing away from the wall and stalking towards the startled Dragon-boy. “Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?”

“Maiya,” Sarn said is disbelief, surprised that he had been beaten to the gate by a human.

“Sarn, you idiot! You’re injured, and you’re running around this city like a lunatic!” she snapped, fighting down the urge to slap him. Sarn just blinked at her, not really understanding why she was so upset with him. “Why did you leave?” she asked in a quieter tone of voice, and Sarn was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

“I did not wish to put you in danger. You have done more than enough for me, and I am grateful, but I can’t stay in this city,” he replied, placing a hand on Maiya’s shoulder. “I have already told you that you should not get yourself involved in the affairs of Dragons, for it could mean putting your very life in danger.”

“But I’m already involved!” Maiya snapped, looking up into his deep purple eyes. “So are Darius and Rhys, and even miss Kira. We chose to get involved!”

“And I am choosing to leave,” Sarn countered, slipping his hand away from Maiya and stepping past her.

“I won’t let you.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“Oh, but I can,” a third voice chimed in, catching both Sarn and Maiya by surprise. “You thought that you could hide amongst the humans, didn’t you Sarnishi? Well too bad, I found you anyway.” Stepping out of the shadows, Maiya beheld a young man who was perhaps younger in appearance than Sarn, who had long golden hair that seemed to be streaked with red. His eyes were a glowing amber colour, and were firmly fixed on the Dragon-boy who stood behind her.

“Prince Katsuko,” Sarn growled, yet Maiya could hear the pain in his voice, and she saw him tighten his arm against his stomach.

“I see that you have not yet recovered from our last meeting, and yet you would stand there and challenge me? Foolish move,” Katsuko said, and as he took a step forwards, Maiya put herself between the two of them.

“Please, don’t hurt him! He’s in no condition to fight you!” she pleaded, and Katsuko regarded her for a moment before he smirked.

“So, it’s you then, is it? The despicable Drakeling that I have been searching for, and you led me straight to her, Sarnishi. How careless of you. My father would be most disappointed,” the golden haired Dragon-boy sneered.

“You will not harm her, Prince Katsuko. She is not your concern,” Sarn growled, and Katsuko narrowed his eyes in anger.

“Oh, but she is,” he growled in response, taking another step forwards. “And I will so enjoy sending her to the next world.”

“I’m afraid that I can’t allow you to do that,” another voice called out as the Prince of Light stepped into view, carrying a bag that looked like it contained half a dozen of the cucumber-sized desert water berries, commonly known as purple squirters. “In accordance with the treaty of Aradaishi, whilst in the company of humans, you Dragons must obey our laws. Furthermore, the treaty forbids you from killing a human unless it is a matter of life or death, which this is not. Would you, the Prince of Dragoi, disrespect the wishes laid down by one of your own kind?”

“Who are you?” Katsuko growled, shifting his attention onto the green haired young woman.

“I am Prince Kiran of Torkey, and whilst in this kingdom, you must obey its laws. If you do not, then you are giving Torkey an open invitation to announce war on Dragoi. Need I remind you that although Dragons are stronger than humans, we have the greater numbers, and will not give up as easily as you may think,” Kira snapped, fixing the Dragon Prince with her violet eyes.

“This is no concern of yours, little girl Prince. I am simply here for Sarnishi, and for the Drakeling that is in his company,” Katsuko said, and Sarn pulled Maiya behind himself as the Prince advanced on them once again.

“You will not touch her!” the purple haired Dragon-boy growled as Kira came to stand between them.

“It is my concern whilst they are in my city. If you want them, then wait for them to leave,” she hissed, and the hard look in her eyes actually made Katsuko back up a step.

With a growl, he jumped up onto the roof of a nearby house, staring down at the trio that were in the street. “You may have escaped me for now, Sarnishi, but I know where you are, and I know who the Drakeling is. I will be back.” And with that, he jumped high into the sky, letting his human form expand and shift back into his natural Dragon form. With one hard beat of his great wings, the Prince of Dragoi flew back towards the northern mountains and away from Torkey.

Down on the street, Sarn breathed a sigh of relief before collapsing onto his knees in pain. Blood was seeping through the bandages around his stomach, and his breathing was heavy and laboured.

“You idiot, now look at what you’ve done,” Maiya snapped in concern, lifting one of his arms over her shoulders and helping him back onto his feet. “Come on, let’s go back to the inn,” she added, and Sarn gave a reluctant nod.

“I suggest that when we get there, you tell us exactly what is going on between you and the Dragon Prince,” Kira added, and Sarn sighed.

“Why is it that you humans insist upon involving yourselves in the affairs of Dragons? I can’t understand it,” he said in bemusement, and Kira smiled.

“We can’t help but get involved when someone is in trouble. It’s human nature,” she answered with a shrug, and Sarn gave a small laugh.

“You humans are strange creatures indeed,” he said, and yet he could not help but feel grateful to the two young women, and especially to Maiya. Kira had had the strength of her kingdom behind her words, and yet Maiya had stood up to Katsuko with nothing more than her own strength. She would not have stood a chance against the Prince if he had have attacked, and yet she had still stood in his way. Sarn didn’t really understand the rationality behind it, and yet the gesture had moved him nonetheless.

‘Katsuko thinks that she is the one that he is after,’ he thought as they walked back to the inn. ‘He will not be convinced otherwise, but I swear to you Maiya, I will not allow him to hurt you.’